Berwick: CMS innovation center can help reduce infections

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' new innovation center will play a big role in helping reduce healthcare-associated infections in all healthcare settings, the agency's director said this week.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation can significantly help spread knowledge on how to prevent HAIs, CMS Administrator Donald Berwick told a National Journal-sponsored forum on Wednesday. CMI has roughly $10 billion at its disposal to fund HAI reduction pilot programs and demonstration projects, according to a Bureau of National Affairs report.

Between 1.6 million and 3.8 million infections occur in long-term care facilities each year, according to HHS figures, cited in the BNA report. Addressing the forum, Berwick said that patient safety is the most important aspect of care that needs to be improved.

Fecal transplants should be considered for patients with recurrent cases of Clostridium difficile whose symptoms cannot be addressed by antibiotics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America said in new guidelines published Thursday.

Lawmakers took a long-standing industry complaint to the Department of Health and Human Services this week, telling Secretary Alex Azar that Medicare and Medicaid favor opioid prescription over non-addictive alternatives for treating chronic pain.